1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bidirectional slide-type mobile communication terminal and a method of providing a graphic user interface thereof, and more particularly to a bidirectional slide-type mobile communication terminal for providing a user interface that changes in real time according to user input, which may enable a user to recognize and easily operate the user interface, and a method of graphically providing such a user interface.
2. Discussion of the Background
Mobile communication terminals not only tend to be compact, slim, and lightweight, but are also moving toward providing a wider variety of functions and designs in order to meet various user demands.
In particular, the demand for mobile communication terminals that have multimedia functions has increased explosively around the rising generation who tend to be very interested in image media, such as pictures, movies, or music videos. As a result, mobile communication terminal manufacturers are now supplying large quantities of mobile communication terminals having built-in digital cameras or being capable of video playback.
A mobile communication terminal may be classified as a bar-type mobile communication terminal, a flip-type mobile communication terminal, a folder-type mobile communication terminal, or a slide-type mobile communication terminal. The slide-type mobile communication terminal includes a terminal body that is divided into two parts, that is, an upper body and a lower body, and that is opened/closed by sliding the upper body relative to the lower body. In recent years, a bidirectional slide-type mobile communication terminal has also been developed, in which the upper body can slide downward as well as upward.
Such a bidirectional mobile communication terminal has been devised to enable a user to conveniently use a camera function aside from the basic communication function, and has a structure that allows the camera direction to be changed by sliding the upper body downward. However, since the bidirectional slide-type mobile communication terminal of the prior art is centered around use of the camera, its other functions may be relatively weak.
For example, when a user slides the cover of the terminal body down in order to listen to music, he/she may only be able to use direct keys, including PLAY, FF, and REW keys to listen to music. Moreover, while an interface that is only for the camera may be provided in the terminal, there is no such interface for music listening, which may inconvenience the user. In addition to music listening, other functions equipped in the terminal, such as an environment setting function, a message creation function, a phonebook function, and so forth, may have relatively weak interfaces, and thus the user may be inconvenienced in using these functions.